


Vector

by Lys ap Adin (lysapadin)



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Angst, Futurefic, Gen, Series Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-09-30
Updated: 2002-09-30
Packaged: 2017-10-02 05:00:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lysapadin/pseuds/Lys%20ap%20Adin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An exploration of a possible backstory for Duo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vector

**Author's Note:**

> Angst. Spoilers for what we know of Duo's canonical history.

**Vector**

[L2: Earth Sphere Alliance Base 1284619P -- "The Calvin J. Bradley Memorial Hospital" -- AC 186]

The small boy made a desperate bid for freedom, scrambling through the corridors of the Federation medical facility and just managing to elude the adults who were a trifle too slow to catch him. Angry shouts followed in his wake, and both the civilian nurses and doctors and the uniformed Federation soldiers dove to catch the small boy. One nurse managed to grab a handful of long hair; the boy yelped and tugged his head free, leaving a few strands behind.

He could see the brighter light that meant the outdoors was just ahead -- L2's artificial sunlight that was tinged grey (all of L2 was washed in the grime of factory smoke and cheap construction) -- it was a welcome sight after the days of fluorescent light. A burly Federation sergeant moved to block the escape, spreading his arms to intercept the boy.

The boy jumped, sliding between the sergeant's legs, and came back to his feet running. He laughed over his shoulder at his pursuers and then sprinted through the hospital's sliding glass front door. The frustrated medical staff and soldiers rushed into the street after him, but he had already disappeared into the mass of humanity that was his natural habitat.

Private John Riley scrubbed his forehead. "Captain Drummond is not going to like this," he groaned.

~*~

"Sir, Omega Subject has escaped from his unit." Riley had given up most of his hopes for career advancement when he had been unable to track down the runaway urchin, and only hoped that a prompt and honest report would ameliorate the disciplinary action likely to follow his foul-up.

"I know." Captain Walter Drummond, a career Federation officer, hardly looked up from the reports on his desk.

Riley winced, cursing the military rumor mill. The kid had only disappeared half an hour ago! Then he steeled himself. "Sir, according to Dr. Nicolet, he'd already been inoculated with the A-21109 strain when he made a break for it."

"What was Dr. Nicolet's prognosis on his condition?" Drummond inquired, finally looking up from the papers.

"She's ninety percent certain that the strain took to him. She and Dr. Novikov were very pleased with the way Omega Subject responded to the plasmid therapy." Riley swallowed, not quite able to bring himself to meet his commander's chilly grey gaze. "It's her opinion that Omega Subject will show symptoms and become contagious within the next twenty hours."

Drummond steepled his fingers in front of his face as he regarded the nervous young soldier. "Tell me, Private, how did Omega Subject escape?"

Riley blushed deep red to the roots of his short hair. "I was on duty outside his ward, sir, and was called away for about five minutes by Sergeant Trent. I made sure the door was locked before I went, sir, but by the time I got back the little bastard -- begging your pardon, sir -- had picked the lock and was running like the devil himself was chasing him. We tried to catch him, but it just wasn't any use. He disappeared into the streets."

"I see." Drummond nodded to himself. "Thank you, Private."

Riley stared.

Drummond looked at him. "Well? Was there something else?" he asked.

"Sir... you're going to try to find him, right?"

Drummond smiled. "Of course we are... but if I were you, I might stop by the lab and see about getting a booster on your vaccinations. Now, before you're dismissed, there's the matter of your negligence while on duty..."

~*~

Fact: The colony of L2 is notorious for several things: its manufacturing industry, its large population, its high concentration of poverty, and the waves of disease that swept through the populace at regular intervals.

Between the years of AC 185 and 189 alone, eight distinct strains of virulent influenza were documented by the Calvin J. Bradley Memorial Hospital. In addition to that, other illnesses such as typhoid and tuberculosis made periodic appearances, aided by the poor sanitation in the quarters where the populace was either poverty-stricken or indigent and crowded into extremely tight living quarters.

Other diseases, believed to be mutations and crossbred from the more typical infections also cropped up from time to time with deadly effect. These mutant strains swept through the colony, wreaking havoc with immune systems weakened by malnutrition, exhaustion, and despair. Recent research into the many diseases of Federation-controlled L2, however, indicates that these new diseases were not natural, and may have been engineered by man. The purpose of such bioengineering remains unknown.

~*~

[Old Los Angeles, Earth: Preventers Headquarters Medical Center - Phlebotomy Laboratory - AC 202]

Strange, he thought, clenching his eyes shut and gritting his teeth, how one could go through a bloody war, never swerving at the sight of death and destruction, but could not even stand to watch a nurse drawing blood.

"You can look now, the needle's in," the nurse said, managing to sound slightly amused through her boredom.

Duo unscrewed his eyes, glancing down at the crook of his elbow and the vial dangling from it, filling slowly with dark red. His blood. No, it was impossible to watch the needle going into the vein, but this part... was morbidly fascinating.

The nurse, gauging the level of blood in the vial, moved crisply, removing both vial and needle; Duo pressed the cotton wad over the tiny wound and bent his elbow without needing the instructions. "That was the last one, right?" he asked, eyeing the rack of several vials that all contained his blood samples.

"You say that like you're tired of letting me poke you with a needle," she teased. "We're all done, though. I'll get this to the lab, hon, and they'll send out the results as soon as they get them in," she told him. "Now send in the next one on your way out."

Duo nodded and grinned. "I will... won't even tell them how much it hurt. Thanks for the time, ojousan."

She laughed and shooed him out of the lab.

Heero fell in step with him as Duo headed for the elevator. "Well?" he asked.

"The physical was fine," Duo shrugged. "I ran circles around everyone else on the track, of course, the psych evaluation went about as well as you can expect when you're me, and the doc said everything else looked fine. They're going to run some blood tests, and then I should be ready to go." He grinned. "Are you ready to work with me again?"

"I can hardly contain my excitement." Heero's face was stern, but his eyes were warm -- even friendly.

"So, you on duty or what?" Duo asked, "'Cause I'm about to starve, and I hear there's a pretty decent Mexican restaurant down the street that I'm dying to try out. Wanna get a bite to eat with me?"

"Los Bravos?" At Duo's nod, Heero shrugged. "That would be acceptable. I've got lunch in thirty minutes."

"Great, I'll get a table and meet you there." Duo flashed a smile and dashed off down the hall.

Heero watched the newest prospective agent go, reflecting that some things hadn't changed much, and that he rather hoped they never would.

~*~

Duo was finally putting a dent in the job of unpacking when the comm chimed a couple of days later. He hopped over a couple of boxes, heading for the sound of the insistent chiming, and tried to locate the unit under the mess of his worldly belongings. He finally found it and hit the button for video and audio. "Yeah, this is Duo," he said when the image of his caller flickered onto the screen.

"Mr. Maxwell, I'm Dr. Danielle Stockton. I was looking over the results for your blood tests, and there were a couple of things that I noticed that I'd like to discuss with you."

"What kinds of things?" Duo's eyes narrowed.

"Nothing serious," she hastened to assure him. "Just a few things that are unique enough that I'd like to go over them with you in person. Could you come in to medical center, perhaps tomorrow morning?"

"Uh... sure. This isn't going to affect my application to the Preventers, is it?"

"Not at all, Mr. Maxwell. If it's all right, can you come in around 10:00?"

"I'll be there," he promised. She thanked him and disconnected the call.

Duo stared at the grey screen, puzzled. If the results weren't serious, what was there to discuss? "Friggin' doctors," he muttered.

~*~

"So what's this all about, Doc?" Duo asked, dropping himself into a seat. "I was kind of hoping to be starting work today, not coming back here for another round with the vampires."

Dr. Stockton smiled. "I understand your eagerness, but there were some strange anomalies in your lab work."

"Define anomalies for me, Doc."

She opened a chart on her desk and looked at something noted within it. "You originally came from L2, didn't you?"

"Yeah, why?"

She closed the chart and leaned her chin on her palm to look at Duo with grave hazel eyes. "I don't know if you've found this out or not, Mr. Maxwell, but I'm not one of the clinical doctors who work for the Preventers."

"Yeah, I kinda noticed that last night when I was digging around to find out what was going on here," Duo admitted.

The doctor chucked ruefully. "I should have known you wouldn't be able to wait. You've got quite a reputation for being impatient. Mr. Maxwell--"

"Call me Duo."

"Very well, Duo. My area of expertise leans to infectious disease. Specifically, I work with bioweapons. I help the Preventers identify threats from groups who might stoop to using biological warfare." Dr. Stockton picked up a sheaf of papers. "One of the lab technicians called me in when she was looking at your blood sample. Did you know you have antibodies for nearly twenty different microbes and bacteria that are on the list of the most lethal diseases ever?"

Duo laughed. "Oh, that. Hell, Doc, the Mad Five figured that we might go up against bioweapons when they sent us out with our Gundams, so they vaccinated all of us with everything they could think of. Sorry to get you all excited, but any one of us probably has those antibodies floating around his blood."

"Actually, Duo, I already knew about those inoculations. They're in your chart." She tapped the sheaf with her finger. "These are different. Very different."

"How?" he asked, leaning forward.

"I assume you were on L2 during the Earth Sphere Alliance occupation?"

"Yes." His response was short and clipped.

"I've been interested in L2 for a very long time, Duo. All colonies are susceptible to disease--the closed environment and cramped quarters virtually guarantees it--but L2 seemed to have more than its fair share of plagues."

"Yeah, so?" Duo wanted to squirm in his seat, but controlled the need to fidget.

Dr. Stockton's eyes were bright with enthusiasm. "Well, it's been my theory and the theory of a few others in the field that all that sickness was caused, or abetted, by man. By the Federation army. I think they might have been testing their new weapons on the people of L2."

Duo grunted. "I wouldn't put it past them. But... so I survived. So I've got some extra protection against some nasty diseases. Big deal."

"That's not all you've got, Duo."

Duo reacted automatically with a grin. "Doc, please, this is a working environment. Don't make me quote the harassment policy at you."

She sighed and shook her head. "Please be serious. Duo, there's something unusual in your blood--it appears to be some sort of genetic modification. This is very important to me, Duo -- it could prove that illegal experiments were being done on Federation citizens -- so can you tell me if you ever came into contact with the Federation military hospitals on L2?"

The dim memory bubbled to the surface [tall men - giants in uniforms - 'Grab him!' - fight and kick - sicksweet smell of gas and blackness - waking up in a world of linoleum - hatehatehate the smell of hospitals - so many needles] and Duo closed his eyes. "Maybe I was... once," he said, voice hoarse. "But I got out of there pretty quick and never looked back."

"Mmhmm." The doctor had opened a notebook, and had a pen poised to write. "Can you tell me about what happened?"

~*~

[L2: Earth Sphere Alliance Base 1284619P -- "The Calvin J. Bradley Memorial Hospital" -- AC 186]

"This one's certainly a fighter," Dr. Marie Nicolet noted to her colleague, watching the subject they had dubbed "Omega" fight the nurse who was merely trying to give him a vitamin shot.

"Indeed. I don't think I could have picked a better candidate for the A-21109 strain," Dr. Anton Novikov agreed, noting that the subject didn't seem at all fazed by the strange surroundings. "These street children are amazingly resilient."

Dr. Nicolet's smile was chilly. "This one's about to become even more so. I suggest that we start the plasmid therapy this afternoon... just as soon as we sedate him a bit more."

The other doctor nodded, and then winced as Omega Subject scored a nasty bite on the nurse.

~*~

[from the personal notes of Dr. Anton Novikov, c. AC 186]

The use of the indigent juvenile and child population for the plasmid therapy was a stroke of genius on Marie's part - when the therapy is successful, the results are spectacularly thorough. The indigent population has a greater access to the people of L2 than we researchers could have hoped for... The testing phase for new strains and improved strains moves much more smoothly since we implemented the new procedure...

~*~

[L2: Earth Sphere Alliance Base 1284619P -- "The Calvin J. Bradley Memorial Hospital" -- AC 186]

The street brat currently known as Omega Subject cracked one blue eye carefully, and smirked to himself as he saw the shadow of the soldier guarding his door moving away. This was his chance to escape from the goddamn Feds, and he wasn't going to waste a moment of it.

He hopped off the hospital cot and fished the tiny piece of bent wire out of the place where he'd hidden under the mattress, and darted to the door. He pressed his ear against it to listen, and heard nothing. Grinning, he set to work on the lock, and was gratified to hear the tumblers click into place after a few moments' probing. He checked the door for shadows, and then slid it open. The coast was clear, so he took off running down the hall.

He never realized that he'd been observed through a video monitor the whole time.

~*~

[Old Los Angeles, Earth: Preventers Headquarters Medical Center - Phlebotomy Laboratory - AC 202]

"So, Doc..." Duo hesitated. "What am I carrying?"

"Here's the list... though most of them are just the technical names of the strains," she said, handing him the papers.

Duo scanned the list, and stopped. "A-21109. I recognize that one. I definitely recognize that one."

~*~

[L2: Poor Quarter -- AC 186]

The escapee burst into the warehouse, panting and looking over his shoulders. The crowd of other children regarded his entrance with various stages of amazement. "Kid? That you?" their leader asked.

Satisfied that he hadn't been followed, the boy grinned. "Hell, yeah, Solo. Damn Feds got ahold of me, but I showed 'em. Took me awhile to get outta there, though."

Solo slung an arm around the younger boy's shoulders. "Welcome home... now tell us all 'bout it."

~*~

Vector: (vek´tor) 1. a carrier, especially the animal (usually an arthropod) that transfers an infective agent from one host to another. Examples are the mosquito that carries the malaria parasite Plasmodium between humans, and the tsetse fly that carries trypanosomes from other animals to humans. Dogs, bats, and other animals are vectors that transmit the rabies virus to humans. 2. a plasmid or viral chromosome into whose genome a fragment of foreign DNA is inserted, used to introduce the foreign DNA into a host cell in the cloning of DNA. adj., vector´ial.

* http://my.webmd.com/content/asset/miller_keane_35139

~*~

Fact: The virus A-21109 was particularly lethal among the younger population of L2, where it appeared first and most strongly.

~end


End file.
